Just before Inst mail left England the Secretary of the Admiralty introduced the Navy Estimates in the House of Commons, and said that the present Admiralty claimed to represent the national naval policy; to be a sort of animlgam of the views of Whig and Tory Lords, adopting the Northe brook phus with Lord George Hamil. ton's improvements, The expenditare proposed for this year amounts to £12,993,000, which are higher estimates than any sit ice the Crimenn war, i ly caused by the ship-building proposed by Lord Northbrook and added to by Lord George Hamilton, The me of the former wns to cust about £3,500,000, while Lord George daring his seven mouths of office commenced to build eleven additional ships—five under his predecessor's plan and six under his own—thereby adding liability of £3,600,000. In addition to this, forty torpedo poate are building, and their ovat will be £2,276,000 wh Ins to be provided in this year's vote This yen's liability of the deparim under the programmes of the two previous Boards is £6,100,000; and of that amount £3,828, has to be puld for ship.bi The Seoretars, ans who might object to the increase in the estimalos as too much for one year, and who would suggest the expenditure being spread over several yeara, suid ry sensibly that the slow and dawdling system of building extravae gant and a ruinous one, Ho offered instances the Ajax and Agamemnon which were nine years in course of construction, The original estimate for the Latter was £140,000, but she has already cost £185,522; the Ajax lias cost up to Inst dates £188,894 which is over £26,000 above the estimate for her, But these are trifles compared lo what appears to have been spent on the Inflexible, where the excess for Inbour alone reached the sum of £102,400. But as a contrast to these results of the slow system of building, the Camperdown, Hero, Tom raire, and Rodney, which were completed quickly cost within the original estitnates, It is rather curious to find the Secretary of one of the great spending departments absolutely plaming himself, as 8 member of a Liberal Government, on his colleagues intro. ducing Invish and spirited estimater, higher in amount than the Tories framed the Inst two times they were in office, and not a voice being raised to grumble or protest against (he extravagance.
The public is more interested in the composition of the navy than in its cost, There are now in course of construction
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.